Snow Melts

In the record-breaking blockbuster Frozen, the supporting character, who most viewers consider the main character, is a happy go lucky snowman named Olaf. I have to admit, he made me laugh several times, and his demeanor is hard to dislike. He sings the second most popular song in the movie called, “In Summer”. For those three people who have not watched this movie, here are some of the lyrics: “Bees will buzz, kids will blow dandelion fuzz, and I’ll be doing whatever snow does in summer…my snow up against the burning sand probably getting gorgeously tanned in summer.”

Of course the humorous thing about this melody is everyone knows what will happen to this poor snowman in summer…

he melts.

The snowman has limits, and unless or until he learns to embrace those limits, he will surely do whatever it is that happens to snow in summer.

Here is the unshakable reality of life:

Truth will always dominate one’s hopes, beliefs, and aspirations.

In fact, everything created has limits. Nothing is exempt from the actuality of our physical laws that hold us together as well as the often-ignored spiritual laws that, if followed, keep us mentally together. We are both physical and spiritual. We have a physical being that is useless without the spirit that makes it alive. That is, all the DNA, RNA, and billions of cells can do nothing without life being breathed into it and we call this our soul…our spirit.

Health conscious people are cautious about what they eat, drink, and think. The interesting thing is that most of them miss the reason they are limiting themselves…

They live with self-imposed restrictions not just to look good, but so they can

“feel” good.

Feelings come from our spirit, not from nerves, electric impulses, or genetics. It is our spirit’s interpretation and assimilation of that constantly fluctuating data that makes someone ‘feel’ good. Our gray matter is our brain, but our mind/spirit cannot be located…it is this mind/spirit that allows us to feel anything.

If you live your life ignoring your physical limitations, you will feel it spiritually.

You will melt

Olaf’s friends hesitated to be honest with him and tell him exactly what happens to snow in summer. If they truly cared and loved Olaf, they would humbly inform him and suggest he daydream about summer, but seek the artic north. For Olaf, he can only prosper and remain happy-go-lucky in the cold.

For humankind, we can only prosper and remain happy-go-lucky by accepting and living the way our Creator has informed us via sixty-six books that we call the Bible.

God, because He IS love:

Warns His beloved that we will, in a sense, ‘melt in the summer sun’.

He humbly requests, does not demand, that we follow His leading because He knows how we function properly, and He desires for us to spiritually prosper.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible is not a book of rules…it is sixty-six books filled with unquestionable wisdom that transcends time, the whims of man, and the silliness of momentary cultures.

Read it.

Study it.

Apply it.

It is from these truths that you will thrive. God is on your side if you would trust and allow Him to lead, you will realize this amazing certainty.

Don’t be an Olaf living in a false fantasy. Live in reality and embrace your boundaries as our loving God has articulated.

Limits are not a bad thing; they keep us alive and keep us 
Frozen.

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’" says the LORD. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” Jer. 29:11

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Disappear

I can’t seem to watch enough documentaries about people who live in Alaska, Siberia, and various other locales where no one else lives but them. I envy that solitude, that fight for survival where nothing matters but food, shelter, and making it through another day. The pettiness of most of our pursuits and desires becomes crystalline and basics become paramount. 

In order to chase after a taste of this desire, I love hiking on various mountains across this great country by myself and not seeing people for days on end. To some people that sounds like purgatory, but to me it sounds like pure joy.

I have no desire to ever be known or respected by anyone but my family. I don’t want to be on a stage or have people recognize me. The idea of “rich and famous” repulses me to my core, and everything inside me, humanly speaking, screams to stop when I sit down to write a blog, stand up to speak, or enter a room where large groups of people are “having a good time”. That's partially what I loved about midnight shift as a cop. While most people slept, I would go about my work keeping others safe and they never knew who I was or that I existed or did anything for them. 

Here’s the funny thing, it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter what I want. It doesn’t matter where I want to live. It doesn’t matter if I want to disappear and never be seen or heard from again. The only thing that matters as a follower of Christ is to listen to His leading, and if that means I am to write, speak, or interact, I will do it with all that I have.

After many, many hours of watching those documentaries (and various zombie and other apocalyptic movies that depict a similar world where only a few people remain) something interesting struck me.

That is a life wasted.

That is a life where someone would, maybe, find my sundried and bleached bones and then move on with little more than a passing thought about what kind of life he lived. Life only has meaning when we impact others for the eternal cause of Christ. Anything short of that is gone as soon as it starts.

We are, as the Bible tells us, truly a flickering flame, a morning fog, or a wildflower, here today and gone tomorrow. At best, only those in direct contact with us will be affected, and they move on, as they should, fairly quickly, and the rest of the world does not miss a beat, not a step, and traffic resumes its commute as if nothing happened.

That was one of the things that always got me as a cop.

You work a horrific fatal accident, clean it up, open up traffic, and I would watch the faces of those driving by while I wrote my report. They are clueless as to what they are driving over and the images I smelled. 

That’s our life. It does me no good to hide in Alaska, Siberia, or any other distant corner of this world, temporally, sure, but not permanently.  I must let the love of others trump my human instincts to run and hide. The Great Commission is my primary pursuit, and if that means becoming known so that some may come to the knowledge of the Truth, then that’s what I will do. 

Not begrudgingly, but with a passion that drives me past the mediocre and into the realm of all that He has gifted me. 

The naysayers, like me, will soon be gone, and it’s only eternity that really matters.

So no matter where you are, a small town in Alaska or a large city in Brazil, impact your world for Christ. Stand up, speak up, and tell others of the Good News, even if you are uncomfortable and want to hide in a dark corner like I do.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere--in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

Ugly Christmas Boxes

Once a year I go into our garage, push past several boxes of stuff, kick up the dust and dirt that has accumulated over the last year, brush away a few dead bugs, and finally reach my goal—more boxes.

There is an incredible difference between the ugly boxes I move out of the way and the ugly boxes I pull out and it is not just the word ‘Christmas’ written on the outside with black Sharpie, it’s what’s inside of them that makes them different. In fact, these boxes are more worn, tattered, and stained from the years spent in the garage than most of the other boxes. Year after year, they’ve been moved, pushed, and crushed into tight spaces to make room for other stuff.

I tug and pull them out of their resting place, pile them up, and carry them to the living room. They are ugly. They are frayed. Various types of tape hold them together. But unlike the others, these hold promise because of the true meaning behind that one word: Christmas.

It’s been eleven months since we packed them away and who put what where, is a mystery. My family gathers around the stack, and one by one, we open the boxes as nostalgia fills our hearts by what’s inside. Piece by piece, the old ‘works of art’ are pulled out and unwrapped from their protective Wal-Mart bags or the occasional ‘special’ item has paper, bubble wrap, and then the Wal-Mart bag.

The funny thing is… From the most beautiful piece to the downright scary hand-painted Santa, none of the pieces are particularly stirring on their own. It is only when we begin to put them on the tree that a different picture emerges. Then, when we step back, turn on the tree lights, and stand there quietly for a moment and gaze, it is at that moment that we are reminded of the uniqueness of Christmas and the ugly boxes that held this beauty gives way to something better.

Christmas, despite the ardent attempts of humanists, will always be about one thing: the birth of a Savior. He offers life to anyone who will accept His gift (John 11:25). Like the boxes and the items inside, we are all battered, broken, and held together by various types of ‘tape’. With Jesus, it’s not our decrepit body and not the beautiful or ugly moments that make or break us. It’s what we allow Him to do with those laughs—those tears—and those scars that matter. He alone opens the shell you live in, pulls out the good, the bad, and the ugly, puts it on the Tree of Life, and creates a perfect picture of beauty.

Christmas is more than symbolism; it is truth, reality, and it is life. Jesus doesn’t focus on the appearance of your box, the contents on the inside, or the stains from years of a difficult life, nor should you. Focus, instead, on the life Jesus brought to earth on the first Christmas morning and allow Him to lovingly use all of you to glorify Him and give you peace.

“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem” Luke 2:10-11

Jesus is a Myth

 

For several years, billboards loudly proclaiming that Jesus is a myth have sprung up around Christmas time. Various atheists’ groups are proud to claim responsibility. One such sign, recently erected in Times Square, depicts a rendition of Jesus with the words “Jesus is a Myth”. As a Christian, I could not be happier…once again, Jesus gets free advertisement. I almost feel bad for Buddha (originally, Siddhattha Gotama), Shiva, Vishnu, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, and thousands of others who apparently do not rise to the level of concern for atheists. Only Jesus of Nazareth rises to such distinction. So strong are their feelings towards Him that they will give their greatest resource—money—just to tell others about Him. Praise the Lord!

In business, there is a saying, “There is no such thing as bad publicity.” Church buildings are boring. Christians are often very boring. But posting something that goes against all logic, historical evidence, and long-standing acceptance is exciting. It grabs one’s attention and makes them question the truthfulness or falsehood of the statement.

I love this technique, and I’ve personally challenged hundreds of students throughout the years to spend a week or two of their life, using all of their intellect and research abilities, to try to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. I believe the fastest way to saving faith or unbearable realization that Jesus indeed lived, died, and rose again is to aggressively study the evidence for the resurrection. My prayer is that people will read that sign in New York, question their beliefs, and set out to understand why they believe what they believe (1 Peter 3:15; 2 Tim. 2:15; et al.). That is, if they claim Christianity, why do they believe? And if they are atheists, why do they see the facts of history differently than over 90% of the world? The simple truth is one side is right, while the other is wrong, and there is no middle ground.

One thing is certain; atheists have already proven a man named Jesus lived, died, his body disappeared within three days of His burial and is still missing, and He was so impactful on society that the known world changed due to Him and Him alone. How do we know this? Atheists, agnostics, and many brilliant lovers of knowledge have spent 2,000 years trying to prove where His body went after His burial. Implicit in their study is the foregone conclusion that a man named Jesus lived, died, was buried, His body is gone, and He changed some of the world’s most ardent religious followers as well as pagans, thus why they spend their time, money, and talent on one point: where did His body go? Intriguing to me is that without even opening the bible, only listening to the naysayers, I can already firmly know that Jesus lived, died, and His body is missing. So again, the only remaining question is, “Where did He go?”

Please, my atheistic friends, I sincerely beg you to continue to put billboards up, go on news channels and argue your point, and enter the halls of learning. God wants His people to get ready for the coming years of trouble with an unshakable faith, and the only way to remain strong is to know that you know that you know. Christians need a good dare to motivate their lazy minds, and apparently, the best way to strengthen the gospel is via a good challenge/persecution.

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.” Genesis 50:20

 

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105 Minutes with an Atheist

 

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine introduced me to a man who happened to be an atheist. After an hour-long conversation about life, he blurts out, “You keep talking about science. You’re a pastor. Do you believe in science?” He went on to say how he doesn’t believe in God because there is too much “stuff” out there such as “millions of galaxies containing trillions of stars…it’s just too vast to come from a God.” I could not wipe the smile off my face as I said, “Exactly! Too much stuff! Where did all that stuff come from?”

The Law of Cause and Effect is one of the scientific laws that allows the field of science to even exist; without its guiding principle, theories become impossible. That is, scientists observe effects such as life, planets, spinning spiral galaxies, and etc. They spend their life attempting to determine the cause of such effects. There are two options (three if you count aliens, but then where did the aliens come from…back to two options) to the cause of existence, everything from nothing or everything from something. The first option is naturalism (no God) and the second is theism (a God). Again, a third option (minus panspermia/aliens) does not exist. If you are not a theist you are a naturalist (atheist) and vice versa. Either God created or nothing created.

“I think I believe in science more than the naturalist” is what I told him. He narrowed his eyes, threw his head back, and asked, “How so?” I believe the scientific laws that exist today have always existed, and when God decided to create everything, He simply used the laws that are within Him. As a theist, I do not suspend the laws of science; I embrace them. In particular, the law of cause and effect. In order to believe everything came from nothing, I must suspend reality, logic, and rational thought, basically, all laws of science. Everything cannot pop into existence from nothing because there is nothing to make something, and a cause to the first something leading to everything cannot exist in nothing. Simplified, it takes at least one thing to make the next thing. If there was Something (what we call God), then all things are possible because that Thing caused all things to begin. A first cause must exist in order to make the first effect; therefore, there is no choice but to accept the required existence of a first Cause, and that Cause we call God. We are not required to exist; conversely, He is required, and we know this simply because we are here. The universe overflows with unnecessary stuff, therefore, there must be a “stuff” Maker, or there would be no stuff. God is not a maybe, He’s a must.   

So my answer to him was a resounding and excited, “Yes, I believe in—and embrace—science and the very laws by which the field is substantiated! Further, I find it intriguing that atheists mock my strong belief in all scientific laws and consider my unbending commitment to same as ridiculous if not naïve when it comes to the start of it all.” My thought: everyone innately knows that everything requires a something to make anything and that what one gets from nothing is nothing. So my question is, “Who is remaining logical, rational, and intellectually honest? The one who suspends all knowledge of the laws that surround and uphold us, or the one who accepts the fact that those same laws require a law Giver?”

 

Christmas Eve Service: Uplifting?

Recently I was in the hospital with a close family member. We were there for five days as four doctors worked the case attempting to figure out what was wrong. The first three doctors signed off on the one I love and signed the release paperwork. Finally, one more doctor entered the room and clearly stated, “You are not going home; there is something wrong, and we will find it”.

We did not rush to the ER to get an uplifting message from a kind doctor; we went because something was wrong and we needed the truth regardless of the way it made us feel. Jesus said, "Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners." (Mark 2:17). According to the eyewitnesses of Jesus, He is not interested in raising the ego of individuals nor is He concerned with giving an uplifting message so we feel good. No…Jesus is the kind doctor who tells you the truth regardless of the initial sting so that He can help you fix the problem. The world signs your release paperwork; Christ asks you to stay.  

"No one is righteous--not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one." (Rom. 3: 10-12)

While the ultimate end to Jesus’ message is uplifting to those who accept it; simultaneously, it brings about a sense of seriousness and sorrow as well. That is, the Bible is the PET scan exposing the bleakness inside, and we know what it means for many we love who ignore the truth. A few years ago, a family member ignored a lump in her belly for months without telling anyone. That small bump took her life within a few weeks of discovery. She needed a doctor, she needed honesty, and she needed to get well, but feared the news of the doctor and the result was sealed.

The gospel is good news, but it is not exactly uplifting when one considers the totality of its ramifications on all of humankind. “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” (Mth. 7:14).

My prayer is that people come to church this Christmas season not to be uplifted, but to hear and receive the difficult and stinging truth of the good Physician, Jesus Christ. We are not well, and the prognosis is not good unless we accept the gift of eternal life via the shed blood of Jesus Christ, which paid the literal sickness that each of us contain. No one wants to hear they have terminal cancer, but what if you got a second opinion and that doctor said, “No problem, I can remove it and you will live.”  Would you say “No”? Would you allow his perceived arrogance to get in the way of life? Would you walk away simply because it is impossible to grasp the technique?

“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” (2 Cor. 7:10)

 

The Lottery

 

I read a great story the other day about a grandma who was having difficulty paying her electric, cable, and phone bill. I would have to imagine that her financial situation was in complete disarray with no hope of tomorrow making it better. Several months earlier, she’d purchased a lottery ticket and put it in her glove box. As you may know, winners only have so long to claim their prize. As time neared the end, grandma cleaned out her glove box and found her ticket; it was worth $28 million.

Stories like this are heartwarming and a little enticing to go buy a lottery ticket. The fact is grandma’s destructive financial problems need not have been. Her answer rested beside her day after day, for months. Her reprieve from agony as she went to sleep in fear of what tomorrow would bring was only a memory away. Her rescue from financial ruin was often inches from her grasp; all she had to do was recognize its existence, take ahold of it, and accept the gift that awaited her.

While I could expound on the futility of wealth and how this does not solve her eternal issues, that is not the point. Christ has given us a gift. We didn’t even have to spend a dollar; it’s free because He has accomplished the task. Many live their entire life a breath, a thought, or a doubt away from receiving the greatest gift humankind has ever received. They slip in to the other side never opening their proverbial glove box and miss out on what could have been.

When I hear the incredible voice of Adele sing, “We Could Have Had It All”, I can’t help but imagine Jesus saying the chorus of that song to those who never accepted their gift of eternal life. We could have had it all, running in the deep, you had My heart inside your hand and you played it to the beat. Throw your soul through every open door. Count your blessings to find what you look for. Turn My sorrow into treasured gold. You pay Me back in kind and reap just what you sow.

The gift of grace, mercy, and salvation are waiting for you to open your heart, see Jesus for what and Who He is, and accept His completed work. He did it for you. He did it for me. Sadly, many will never cash in their untold wealth; instead, they settle for the dirt we stand on, the dust we breathe in, and the mud from which He made us. You could have it all.

 

Connecting the Dots



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Salvador Dali was a surrealist painter in the twentieth century. I observed his works firsthand at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. As I gazed at one of his paintings, The Hallucinogenic Toreador (can't show due to copyright laws, 13'X9' Full Pic. Dalmation), an artist friend of mine began to point out and explain various stories hidden within the large 13’X9’ painting. Dali purposely placed within his paintings components that only the curious observer would find, stories within a story.

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Near the bottom of The Hallucinogenic Toreador is an area that, at first glance, looks like nothing more than black and white dots. In time, and with the assistance of my friend, I began to see there was much more than what first greets the eye. The white and black dots are actually a Dalmatian dog with its nose to the ground, tail in the air, walking towards a large maple tree during autumn. Once my mind connected the dots, I realized there was a story inside of what originally appeared to be nothing more than dots. Now that I have seen the dots for what they are, I will always vividly see a dog, leaves, and a tree.

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The dog, leaves, and tree were always there; it just took effort and some help to see the truth that already was. Noticing the design created by the designer did not make me smarter or a better person and I certainly cannot brag just because I recognized truth. I did not change the picture nor did I alter its design; I merely acknowledged its existence.

Life, in one sense, is a series of dots; some are dark and scary while others are light and inviting. For many years I only saw black and white dots. The more I study and know God, the more He connects the dots and a large picture is beginning to emerge. I am beginning to see the stories within His story, the story that is Christ’s love for an underserving soul that is me. I cannot see the whole picture yet. But because I have accepted the gift of salvation, I know the Father is creating a work admired for all eternity.

Photo by Robert Hruzek